You're Invited to a Mary-Kate and Ashley Nostalgia Party!

On writing about that which is no more for Shondaland

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I used to run a (decently successful) Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fan site during my pre-teen years.

My sons are also fans (thanks to me!). When we sit on the couch to cuddle and watch shows, I can often talk them into turning on something from the You’re Invited or The Adventures series.

I don’t want to brag, but I know a lot about the Olsen twins. And I’ve written a lot about the Olsen twins. I’ve pitched a number of essays where I use the Olsen twins as a lens to examine myself or culture— or something else.

🎈Here’s a writing prompt 🎈

Consider who would function for you as the Olsen twins do for me. Then, quickly, make a list of scenes where you’re consuming that person’s work.

Think very literally — are you scrolling on your phone? Are you sitting in your childhood living room? Are you at your best friend’s house for a sleepover?

Describe the context for each of these scenes: what is going on both in that immediate moment and also culturally (or even internally)? How could you use *your person* to comment on another, larger phenomenon?

Here’s one Olsen twin essay pitch I sent that ended up failing.

I’d recently written a piece about exercise snacks for Well+Good, and I had a great experience with the editor.

What, I thought, could I pitch to that editor next?

One evening, after watching Winning London with my sons, I had an idea — what if I wrote a fitness piece that was a choose-your-own-workout-adventure with the Olsen twins? A mashup of nostalgia with fitness ideas? I imagined a swim workout based on Holiday in the Sun; a soccer workout based on Switching Goals; a travel, hotel workout based on Getting There.

You get the idea.

It was a bad idea (too niche, too much going on for a mere 800 digital words). But it was fun! (Or, at least, I thought so).

I shared the idea with my husband in the car one evening: “isn’t that brilliant?” I said.

And he said, “have you thought about maybe just taking a nap?”

I pitched the idea to Well+Good anyway, and they said no. But I wasn’t willing to give the idea up!

🎈Pro tip 🎈

I once had a writing coach tell me that the people he sees succeed are the ones who feel like they have something to prove. This resonated with me.

But I would add this:

The people who succeed are the ones who lean fully into their special interests, even when other people make fun of them for those passions.

(You better believe I got made fun of for my Olsen twin obsession back in adolescence. But look at me now — still going on about them today. And getting published doing it!)

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Around this time, I saw Shondaland run a nostalgia series, and I thought — maybe they would want to publish something like this?

I started with an adaptation of the pitch I sent to Well+Good:

I hope you're well! Thank you so much for running my recent lifestyle essay on playing piano badly. I hope you'll consider my 1,000-word Lifestyle essay tentatively titled, "Choose your own workout adventure with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen."

The aisles of Target are filled with babydoll tees and fanny packs. American Girl just released historical dolls who grew up at the turn of the millennium. There's no denying it: the 90s are hot right now. So why not tap into some 90s nostalgia during a workout?

When I prioritize play in exercise, fitness moves from punishment to pleasure. And there was nothing I pushed play on more often as a millennial adolescent than Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movies.

In this essay, I will list 5 popular Olsen twin movies (Switching Goals, Holiday in the Sun, Getting There, Our Lips are Sealed, and The Challenge) and pair each title with a workout that involves similar content.

He replied:

Hi again Anna. Thanks for the pitch. I'm interested in commissioning something along these lines but with a modification. I'm not so keen on the workout angle, but what about a more pure appreciation piece of the Olsens' films? They were perhaps once considered tacky. Now, I imagine they are deeply comforting. I was thinking something along the lines of this essay we ran as part of a nostalgia package on the joy of shopping at Claire's as adult. Let me know if that would work.

You’ll notice that the editor wanted me to make the piece less complicated. Do less to accomplish more, in other words.

This is generally good advice for any piece of writing. It’s harder to make something simple. Distill your idea down to one main idea, one main argument.

In other words, you could pitch a choose-your-own-workout adventure essay, but maybe not with the Olsen twins.

From Getty Images

I decided to narrow my focus even more by reflecting upon a particular Olsen text: You’re Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley’s Mall Party. This text had layers of nostalgia because it wasn’t just about the Olsens, but it was also about the mall.

Remember when people used to go there?

In the piece, I really try to establish both my identity (as a girl and as an adult), along with the specific setting that I am reflecting upon.

Here’s a sample from the piece where I use descriptive detail to evoke a particular time, place, and subjectivity:

The opening scene of Mall Party is peak ’90s. The twins wear oversize flannel and stone-washed jeans. Brightly colored floral wall hangings decorate the walls of the Olsens’ room. They invite their guest list to the party by calling them on a ubiquitous clear landline phone. They’re throwing a mall party because it’s raining outside. And, well, they’re bored.

As a young girl, the idea of spending a gray day at a place like the Mall of America with my best friends was the height of fantasy. I lived in the hills of Appalachia, and even a trip to our town Walmart felt like an outing. Today as a parent, I fantasize less about a trip to the Mall of America and dream more about what it would be like to be bored.

Ultimately, this essay ended up being about longing — how longings change across time, space, and circumstance. I used Mall Party as the lens through which I filtered my own personal reflection. I was really pleased with how it turned out!

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Speaking of nostalgia:

Shondaland was one of my favorite outlets to write for, but several years ago, I received word in some of my private writing Facebook groups that the outlet was moving away from text-based media into video content.

In other words, they were going to stop publishing essays.

When I received this news, I’d published three essays with the outlet (and was paid over $600 for each piece).

I felt a pang of grief; I visited my editor’s social media profile to see if he’d landed on his feet (his feed was full of tropical paradises and cruise ships, and he’d seemed to move into work related to travel content— I hoped this meant he was even better off than before).

I checked to see if my essays were still available on the site — and they were. But for how long? I did not know. But I knew I needed to back up the content for my portfolio.

🎈This is something that is wise to do🎈Anytime you publish something on the internet, do not assume that the internet is forever. It is not. You should always save your digital writing by clicking “print to PDF.”

But let’s say you haven’t done this and your work has already disappeared. You may still be able to recover your writing if you know the original URL.

Go to https://help.archive.org/help/using-the-wayback-machine/ and type that URL in. Most likely, you will be able to grab a screen capture of your writing that used to be on the internet but now is no more.

You can see my final essay, no longer on Shondaland, but still captured through the WaybackMachine here: I Vicariously Visit the Mall With the Olsen Twins to Escape

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Thanks for reading! Tell me in the comments — who functioned for you as the Olsen twins did/do for me?

And ask me anything about this publishing experience — I love to answer your questions.

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This is part of a monthly series called Path to Publication.

In it, I will unpack the story behind my stories. These reflections are part process, part strategy.

At the beginning of 2022, I had, essentially, zero bylines. Since then (in the span of two years), I’ve published nearly 50 short essays. It’s not like I became particularly prolific. I’ve always been a writer. I just became serious about learning the tips and tricks for placing a piece in a popular outlet. And that’s what I’m looking forward to sharing with you.